Baby Drama
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Preseries. Dean slept around, a lot. What if in high school, one of the girls had gotten pregnant? How will the Winchester's cope with a baby added to the mix? Can Dean be a good father? And will they really be able to leave hunting for good? *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Hey folks! Me again, here's a fic I started years ago and I've finally decided to start posting. Hopefully you'll all enjoy it!**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was late May, 1996, and seventeen year old Dean Winchester was living in Phoenix, Arizona, with his father, John Winchester, and his younger brother Sam. It was the third town they'd living in so far that year, they'd come to town four months earlier, and only because there were a number of hunts within hours of Phoenix, they hadn't moved away yet.

It may have been better for Dean in a way if they had, you see, he had been dating this girl, a sophomore named Jodi Matthews. She was sweet, pretty, and kind, she and Dean had met in the school canteen, a classmate of Dean's had been teasing her, jerking her around, and Dean, by no means intimidated had shoved the heavyset young man away, before picking up the books of Jodi's that the bully had taken and handing them back to her. He was charming, she was grateful and taken by his charm.

They were sitting side by side on a wall outside the science block, having lunch, Jodi, who was usually very chatty had been quiet all day, suddenly blurted out. "I'm pregnant."

Dean was silent for a moment, before exclaiming. "What?!"

Jodi kept her gaze fixed on the ground as she said. "I'm sorry, Dean."

Dean shook his head disbelievingly. "No, no, no, shit, no." He muttered as he jumped down from the wall and walked away.

"Dean…" Jodi said softly as she watched him walk away hurriedly. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

As Dean walked away he was in shock. A baby, his baby… They'd always been so careful, how had this happened? Why was this happening?

Secretly, Dean had hopes of having a family one day, being a dad, having a wife, a home, but not now. What would his dad think, how would he react? Simple, he'd be pissed.

Dean was so caught up in his thoughts, that when Sam came up to him, he walked straight into him.

"HEY!!" Sam exclaimed in shock as he collided with his brother. "Dean, what are you doing? Are you okay?"

Stunned by the impact, Dean was jolted from his thoughts, and seeing his little brother standing in front of him looking irate, he asked, "Sammy? What're you doing dude?"

Rubbing his head, which had hit Dean's elbow, Sam replied, "I could ask them same. What's going on, Dean?" In the distance, he could see Jodi still sitting on the wall, head in her hands, sobbing, "Did you have a fight with Jodi?"

Dean shook his head, "She's pregnant, dude. Shit, dude, I'm gonna have a kid."

"Oh shit," Sam muttered in response, what else could he say?

* * *

Dean avoided Jodi like the plague for the rest of the day, he needed some time to think, after school he took Sam straight back to the small apartment a few blocks from the school, preventing Jodi from trying again to talk with him. But home wasn't any easier, in fact, when they got home, that was when the shit really hit the fan.

John was sitting on the couch, waiting for the boys to come home, he had Dean's cell phone in his hand. As soon as Dean came through the door, John stood up abruptly, and before Dean could head for his room, where he had fully intended to hide out until he sorted all this out, John stepped in his way, and shouted at him, "How could you have been so stupid?! Getting a girl pregnant?! You're seventeen! Damn it, Dean!!"

"How'd you…," Dean began in surprise. How could his father possibly know about this? Dean himself had only learned of it hours earlier.

John held up Dean's phone as he told his son, "You forgot this. Jodi is it?"

Dean nodded, waiting for John Winchester to unleash his wrath.

Sam meanwhile was making himself inconspicuous, pressed against the far wall, he had seen his father get like this before, it wasn't pretty.

"Well, Jodi tried to call you, twelve times. I answered, before I could tell her that it wasn't you on the phone, well she said some very explicit things, alongside that you got her pregnant. I thought I raised you better," John finished with a disapproving look.

Dean stormed out of the apartment, Sam chased after him.

* * *

Dean got five blocks before Sam caught up with him. Sam grabbed his brother's arm, and yanked him back, stopping him in his tracks. "Dean?! Hold up, Dean!"

Dean spun around to face Sam, and screamed at him, "LEAVE ME ALONE SAM!!!"

But Sam held his ground. "Calm down, Dean. Dad's a bastard, it's nothing new, you just haven't seen it before. He shouldn't have said that. But you gotta calm down."

"I didn't ask for this, Sammy! He's acting like I did this on purpose. Why would I want to have a kid, I'd screw it up," Dean said, deflating, he sat down on nearby rock, Sam joined him.

They were silent for a long time before Sam quietly told Dean, "You wouldn't mess it up, I think you'd be a great dad. You'd do a better job than Dad ever has."

"That's not saying much," Dean joked in response.

"True, but Dean, you will be an awesome dad. You've already raised one kid," Sam said in reference to himself.

"I guess so, but Sammy, with what we do, I can't have a family, it's too dangerous for them."  
"If you want it, you could make it work."

"I'll think about it," And that was Dean's final word on the subject before he stood up, and jogged away.

Sam let him go, sensing Dean's need to have some space to think, and honestly Sam did too, he was going to be an uncle.

* * *

Dean just kept running, for well over an hour, going in no particular direction, until he came across Jodi's house. He had been there once before when he walked Jodi home from school; her father had flown over the handlebars, and screamed at her so much that he rivaled John Winchester at fury. Dean suspected that Jodi's father was abusive, her mother had died unbeknown to anyone at her husband's hands when Jodi was three.

Dean's suspicion was confirmed in the worst way as he stood in front of the house, and through the window witnessed Jodi's father shoving her hard, causing her to fall over, narrowly missing a large glass coffee table.

Seeing his girlfriend, his pregnant girlfriend's life in jeopardy, Dean went to the door, and kicked it clean out of its frame, before rushing in to Jodi's aid.

"Leave her alone!" Dean shouted at the man, putting himself between him and Jodi, who was still on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Geoff, Jodi's father screamed in rage, "I'm calling the cops!"

"You won't get the chance," Dean stated simply, and before Geoff could respond, Dean punched him in the face, breaking his nose, then kneed him in the groin, forcing him to his knees, and finally kicked him squarely in the ribs.

Dean ignored the man writhing in pain, as he rushed to Jodi's side. He helped her sit up as he worriedly asked her, "Hey, you okay?"

Terrified, Jodi just nodded, and then allowed Dean to lift her petite frame into his arms, and carry her out of the house.

He carried her all the way back to his family's rental home, while she cried into his shoulder.

* * *

John had calmed down in the time Dean was out, Sam had come home, but gone to bed before he could be questioned. He certainly wasn't happy that Dean had gotten a girl pregnant, but there wasn't much he could do about that now, and when John saw Dean walking towards the front door, a young girl in his arms, John rushed to his assistance.

Their argument forgotten, Dean and John assisted Jodi into the house and over to the couch. She had a black eye, and a nasty cut on her cheek, but for the most part she was just shaken.

Once they had made Jodi comfortable on the couch, Dean made the official introductions, "Dad, this is Jodi. Jodi, honey, this is my dad, John."

John couldn't muster a polite greeting, so he settled for tending to her wellbeing, and that of his unborn grandchild. "What happened?"

"Her father damn near killed her, that's what happened," Dean seethed, as in contrast he sat on the couch with Jodi's head in his lap, stroking her hair gently.

"It wasn't that bad," Jodi murmured, thinking of the numerous beatings she had taken over the years, the broken bones and wounds that were left untreated, because her father wouldn't let me go to a doctor.

"Jodi," Dean sighed, seeing her fall to the ground, he had been truly terrified, he felt the same in that moment as when his brother or father had been hurt, "He could've killed you, or the," Dean's thoughts came to an abrupt halt, "the baby? Is it alright? Have you felt anything Jodes?"

Jodi was quick to ease Dean's mind, telling him, "Been kicking me like hell, Jellybean's fine."

"Jellybean?" Dean asked curiously.

Jodi smiled as she took Dean's hand, and placed it to her belly. "I gave it a nickname, I couldn't keep think of the baby as 'it'."

"Fair enough, but of all things, why Jellybean?"

Jodi reached into her jeans pocket, and she pulled out a picture, which she showed to Dean and John, saying, "It looks like a jellybean, doesn't it. This was my first ultrasound, two months into it, I had it last month."

Dean was awestruck by the picture, the picture of his unborn child. But after a minute his thoughts caught up, "Wait, you've known about this for weeks?! Why didn't you tell me?"

Sitting up gingerly, and moving so that she was face to face with Dean, she told him, "After the ultrasound I told my dad, he said I had to have an abortion, and you know, I couldn't say no. But when I got there, last Saturday, I was lying there, waiting for it to start, and I couldn't do it. That was what Dad and I were fighting about."

John felt for the girl, and from where he sat on the arm of one of the arm chairs, he gently asked, "Do you have anywhere you can stay tonight? You can't go home."

Jodi shook her head, saying, "No, there's no one."

"Okay, then. You're staying here, you can sleep in my bed, I'll take the couch."

"I can't… You don't have to…" Jodi was so unfamiliar with being shown kindness, she struggled.

"I've slept in much worse places. It's fine. Dean, help her to my room would you? And find something for her to wear."

* * *

No one slept well in the Winchester household that night. Jodi was in pain, and whilst it was the most comfortable bed in the house, John's bed was still a rock, which didn't help her in the least, but it did feel good not to have to worry that at any moment her father could come through the door and attack her. Dean stayed awake, sitting in the corner of his father's room, watching over Jodi, just in case. John was out on the couch, and sleep for the most part eluded him, the day's events were too much for the patriarch. And as for Sam, who was oblivious to the most recent events, was resting uneasily, his mind wouldn't stop going over everything, and as hard as he tried, he couldn't truly sleep.

* * *

When Jodi, Dean and Sam walked into school together the next morning, they saw the police crawling all over the school, interviewing students and faculty, as they walked through the crowds, several students pointed to them, and the police officers turned to them.

"Are you Jodi Matthews?" One of the officers questioned Jodi.

Dean wrapped his arm around Jodi as she answered, "Yes. What's going on?"

The same officer approached Jodi, telling her, "Your father reported you missing last night, can you come with us? We need to take you home."  
Dean steadied Jodi as he firmly told the officer, "She's not going back there." He gently took the sunglasses that Jodi wore off. "Her father did this, he could have killed her and the baby, she's not going home."  
"You're pregnant?" The officer asked Jodi, adapting to the new situation, and thinking of a way to keep Jodi from returning to her abusive father.

"Three months last week."

"Okay. If you just come down to the station you can fill out some paperwork, and we can help you. We can keep you safe."

"I thought you had to take me back?"

"You're pregnant, that makes you an emancipated minor. You can legally make your own decisions. All we have to do is fill out a few forms."

Jodi clung to Dean, still scared, and so she asked, "Can Dean come with me?"

* * *

Two weeks later, Jodi was officially free of her father, and over dinner that night, John suggested a change of scenery, or rather of state, "Boys, Jodi, I've found a job in Minnesota, I want to be on the road by this weekend, so Sam, Dean you'll need to start packing up."

Dean was stunned, but remained silent, he knew that his father's decision wasn't up for discussion, and certainly not in front of Jodi.

* * *

But as they settled into Dean's bed to sleep, Jodi asked, "So what is your dad's job anyways? You haven't actually told me, and if I'm going to move across the country, which by the way I'm fine with, but I just want to know why."

Dean tried the party line, his father was a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company, but Jodi saw through his lie, she'd seen enough lies in her life, and didn't buy this one for a minute.

"What does he really do?"

"I love you babe, but I can't tell you."

"You can tell me, please," Jodi asked, gazing into Dean's eyes, an pouting expression on her face that would have rivaled Sam's.

"You sure you want to know?"

"Just tell me, Dean."

Dean sighed, and hoped desperately that he wasn't about to ruin his relationship. "Jodi, my dad isn't a sales rep, and I'm not just another guy in high school, neither is Sam. We're hunters."

"What like deer?" Jodi said uncertainly, suddenly unsettled by Dean's tone.

"We hunt the supernatural."

"You what?!"

"That's most people's reaction. Still want to stay with us?"

"You love me? You love this baby? You'll look after us?"

"Absolutely," Dean sighed with relief, "I'd jump in front of a train for the two of you."

"Okay then, I'm coming with you. I love you, you love me, we're having a baby, and wherever you are, that's where I need to be."

**

* * *

**_**TBC...**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews!! Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Jodi took a while to adjust to life on the road, but so did Dean to being a committed partner and soon to be father. John and the boys would go on hunts, while Jodi stayed back in a motel, working on her homework from their latest school. When Sam was home, he and Jodi even quizzed each other, Jodi's intellect easily matched Sam's, but only now that she was free of her father, and finally reaching her full potential was her intelligence realized.

As she came out of shell, Dean only fell more in love with her, she got confidence, a sparkling personality, along with her recently discovered intellect.

Dean even took to calling the baby by its nickname as given to it by Jodi, Jellybean.

* * *

But you know what they say about good things, they always come to an end.

Jodi was in her thirty-third week of pregnancy, couldn't see her feet, and claimed the she was a whale.

Dean was out of town with John and Sam on a hunt, they were only away overnight, but the fact that he wasn't there for Jodi would cause him regret for years to come.

* * *

It was late afternoon, and Jodi was standing at the stove, cooking some soup for dinner, when she felt a sudden gush of fluid, she looked down to find blood streaked fluid covering her pants and the floor.

"Oh god," Jodi whispered in horror, she knew that her waters had just broken, and it was too early. She tried Dean's phone, then John's, then Sam's, all were out of range. Panicking as she felt her abdomen contracting, she called 911.

Waiting for the paramedics to arrive was one of the most terrifying moments of Jodi's life, but once they were there, while they did acknowledge that she was in pre-term labour and needed to be taken to the hospital, they also worked to calm her down.

Getting her to breathe, reminding her that being panicked would only make the situation worse.

Through it all, Jodi kept trying to reach Dean, right up until she was in the delivery suite, and the doctor was telling her to push.

An obstetrics nurse, Tammy was holding her hand, encouraging her, but Jodi was so scared. "I can't do this, I can't!"

"You're doing great, Jodi. Just push, you're almost there," The doctor encouraged her as he worked.

Another nurse patted Jodi's brow with a damp cloth, while Tammy spoke to her soothingly, "Have you chosen a name?"

"Not yet. Why isn't he answering his phone?!"

"You said that your boyfriend was on a camping trip, his phone might not get reception. Everything's fine, I'm sure he'll be back as soon as he can be. What's your boyfriend's name, Jodi?"

"Dean. God it hurts."

"I know it does honey, best thing you can do is to really focus, and push this baby out," Tammy told Jodi calmly, after getting a nod from the doctor, she told Jodi, "Alright, here comes another contraction. Now I want you to take a breath and hold it, use it to help you push the baby out."

Jodi did as instructed, and didn't stop until the contraction ended ten excruciating seconds later.

"Good work mom, head's nearly out, on the next contraction another big push."

Jodi pushed again, but stopped early in exhaustion. "I can't…"

"You can, you are," Tammy encouraged her, she knew that they needed to get the baby out now, or its life could be at risk. "I've seen grown women who can't hold on as well as you, now push."

And she did, and a moment later an infant's screaming cry resounded around the room.

"Congratulations, Jodi, it's a boy."

"Is he okay?" The doctor placed the newborn on Jodi's chest.

"We'll take him to the NICU, let them check him out, but he seems alright."

"Can I go with him?" Jodi asked as one of the nurses took her newborn son over to a portable baby warmer, an infant bed, and hurried out of the room with him.

"Not right now, we'll take you back to your room, clean you up, let you get some rest first."

* * *

Dean nearly crashed the Impala when he checked his messages. "Holy," He muttered as he pulled the car to the side of the road.

"Dean, what's wrong dude?"

"Jodi, there's a bunch of messages, the last one. She had the baby, a boy, he's doing well."

John stretched over, and embraced his son, congratulating him, "Congratulations, kiddo."

They enjoyed the moment, but then Dean wanted to keep going, to get back to his girlfriend and their baby. John took over driving to give Dean a break, and let him rest, not that Dean was going to sleep, he had a son, he, Dean Winchester had a son.

* * *

Dean was ecstatic, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He may have been young, and facing the trials that came with being a young parent, but he had a son and a beautiful loving girlfriend, and he would make it work.

No matter what he had to do, he would make it work.

And then in an instant everything changed, Dean got a call from a nurse at the hospital, the baby had been rushed into surgery and Jodi was beside herself.

The baby, who had seemed perfect at birth wasn't alright. Just hours after his birth, the newborn developed hydrocephalus, a buildup of cerebral spinal fluid within the ventricles of his brain, a complication of his prematurity.

Jodi had been sitting in the special care nursery, rocking her son gently, he had been crying, but now he was quiet, then she noticed that she couldn't rouse him, frightened, she had called over a nurse, who after briefly examining him, scooped the baby out of Jodi's arms, and swiftly put him back in the warmer, she called out to the neonatologist, who came straight over, and before they even explained what was happening, they placed a breathing tube down his throat, and rushed the baby away for tests. He had fallen into a coma.

* * *

Jodi was distraught, the nurses attempted to comfort her, but all Jodi wanted to do, and did do after hearing that her son had been taken in for emergency surgery, was go back to her room and cry.

She was still tired and sore from the delivery, and every sob sent pain through her exhausted body. But she couldn't stop, her son was barely six hours old and he was having surgery on his brain, because he was born too early, because she had given birth too early.

The nurses tried to comfort her, but she was inconsolable.

* * *

Nurse Tammy was going off shift when she heard that the Matthew's baby had been taken into surgery. Jodi was young, and Tammy knew that the pregnancy was hard on her, let alone the pre-term birth, and now emergency surgery.

Tammy signed out, and went over to the postpartum ward to check on Jodi, it came as no surprise to find the sixteen year old in tears.

She knocked lightly on the door as she entered. "Jodi, it's just me, Tammy. Can I do anything?"

Jodi just kept crying, Tammy made her way over to the bed, and sat down beside Jodi, she just sat there stroking Jodi's hair comforting the frightened girl, for hours, before Jodi finally settled.

"I want Dean," That was all she said as she continued to cry softly, she just repeated the words, "I want Dean."

Needless to say Tammy immediately picked up Jodi's phone from the beside, found Dean's number, and called.

Dean answered on the first ring, "Jodi? Are you okay? What's happening?"

"Dean, my name's Tammy, I'm a nurse here, and I have been taking care of Jodi today. There has been a complication with the baby."

"What?! Is he okay?! What happened?! Is Jodi okay?!" Dean instantly panicked.

"Jodi is fine. Try not to panic, but the baby has been taken into surgery. He has a condition known as hydrocephalus, it's a blockage of one of the ventricles in his brain, it causes the cerebral spinal fluid to back up. But we have great doctors here, and they will look after him. It would just be better for everyone if you could be here, I understand that you have been away, but," Tammy was stopped midsentence; she could hear a car's engine revving hard.

"I'll be there in an hour," Dean said as he adjusted to the faster speed of the car, John never obeyed the speed limits, but this time was a record speed, he wanted his son to be able to be where he was needed, with his girlfriend and their baby, and even John wanted to be there to help Jodi, and of course be there for the baby.

Tammy stayed there with Jodi, getting her updates on the baby as often as she could, until Dean arrived nearly two hours after she had called him. They shouldn't have left Jodi so far from them, they all knew that, and wouldn't forgive themselves any time soon.

* * *

_**TBC...**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews!! So sorry about the delay, my life has been crazier than you would believe. I'm sort of taking this fic in a different direction, I have little interest in writing about a nice happy family, so... Well you can just wait and see.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

After the trauma of being so far away from Jodi when his child was being born, and then when the baby was sick, Dean knew that he couldn't continue to travel away from his young family, but at the same time he couldn't expect Jodi to drag their newborn son around the country.

He was left with a difficult choice to make, he wanted to hunt, to keep doing what he'd always done, and also to stay with his brother and father, but he knew that raising his son and being there for Jodi was important, that it had to come first, it wouldn't matter to him if the world was going to hell if his son wasn't alright, Jodi too, he didn't want to die and leave them alone, which he knew full well could happen if he kept hunting.

And making that choice meant quitting hunting for good, it meant settling down somewhere with Jodi and their baby, James Samuel Winchester.

* * *

The problem was that when Sam heard of his brother's plan to separate from the family, from him, well let's just say that it didn't go over so well with the teen.

Sam had never wanted to be involved in the hunt, and as he became more aware of the world outside of the life, he only wanted out more. And now he saw a way out.

Add to that John's reaction, while John had seen the emotional rollercoaster his son had been going through, and so he understood Dean's reasons for the choice, but he was angry that his not so secretly preferred backup for hunts. Then when Sam voiced his wish to leave hunting too, and to stay with his brother, wherever that might be, John hit the roof.

"YOU WHAT?! No, Samuel, you aren't going anywhere. You're not eighteen yet, and that means that it's not your choice to make. And with Dean gone, I'm going to need you to be on hunts."

"But Dad-"

"I said no, Sam. That's final."

* * *

But Sam didn't give up, well not truly, he had 'given up' at first, but seven weeks later he was sitting in the backseat of the 69' Camero Dean had purchased, entertaining his nephew as he, his brother and his brother's girlfriend drove along the interstate towards the large acreage that was home to family friend Pastor Jim Murphy.

Jim had agreed to put up the Winchester boys and Jodi, at first they would be staying in his house, but Jim was already getting plans drawn up for a cottage to be built several hundred feet from the main house.

The pastor was quietly thrilled to have a baby around, he didn't have a family, and at times his large property could get very lonely.

* * *

The emotional scars that had been left by the years of abuse still took their toll on Jodi, and they would for many more years to come. Every time she looked at her son, every time she held him, she was terrified that she would turn out like her father, that she would hurt her child. She hadn't told Dean, but he knew.

Some days Jodi couldn't even bear to be around her son, and she would go out, sometimes even be gone for a few days. It was hard on everyone, but knowing what they knew about the abuse she had suffered from her father, they understood why she was struggling.

Dean supported Jodi regardless of whether she had or hadn't held their son that day, whether she had or hadn't changed him or fed him, he loved her, and all Dean wanted was to make this family thing work.

* * *

Life with a newborn in the house was no picnic though, and no one was exempt from taking their turn in attending to baby James, at whatever hour he had woken up in need of feeding or changing or just some attention. The lack of sleep was very tough on Jodi and Dean, this was going to be their life now, and as much as they loved their son, part of them both wished that they could just go back to before.

Jodi had been dreaming of going to college, she was very talented, and it had been a dream to pursue her interest in music, thinking that maybe it would be her future, but that was gone now, her life was on a different path, she and Dean had left school, Dean wanted to go out and work to get the money he needed to support his family, and while Jodi had tried to go back to studying, it had been asking too much of the pastor to expect him to care for an infant for up to seven hours a day, though he would never complain.

Jodi still loved music though, and when she was up in the night with James, rocking him, trying to lull him back to sleep, she would often sing to him, beautiful songs, songs that she would make up as she sung to her son. It was a far cry from her plans to be performing publicly, but...

Her life had changed, but she wouldn't really change a thing.

* * *

The young Winchester family had nine great years, nine years where they were very happy. They continued to live on Pastor Jim's property in the cottage he'd had built for them. James was in third grade, Jodi had taken a job at the local school, as an aide, and Dean, with Jodi's encouragement had taken an apprenticeship with a local carpenter, and as for Sam, well once he was settled in one place, he aced all of his studies, and was offered a full scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, he was set to begin his second year of studies at Stanford law school, having finished his undergraduate studies the year before last, he was living on campus with his girlfriend of two and a half years, Jessica Moore.

But unbeknown to the family, evil lurked just under the surface, waiting to rip the white picket fence of normality away from them once again.

* * *

Sam and Jess had been hanging out in their apartment when it happened, they had fallen asleep together watching a movie at home. Two days later a friend would discover Jess's bloodied body still lying on the couch, Sam gone.

* * *

Sam was the investigators main suspect, they had warrants out for his arrest, but where he was, they would never find him, a town named Cold Oak in South Dakota.

* * *

Dean had finished at work half an hour before for the day, and he was standing in the playground of Blue Earth Elementary, wearing his dirty, well worn work clothes, waiting amongst a gaggle of soccer mums to pick up children at the end of the school day, he was half listening in on a group of forty something year old women intently discussing the latest drama on 'their' soaps, when his phone rang, and the nice, normal life he had been living suddenly crumbled.

It was Jim. The police had arrived on his doorstep. Sam's girlfriend had been murdered, Sam was missing, and the police wanted to speak with Sam.

Dean's life was instantly devastated.

Dean had quite literally gone into the school, and grabbed James out of class minutes early, he needed to get home, he needed to know what the hell was going on, and he needed to find out where his brother was, now.

* * *

When Dean arrived, two police officers were searching his and Jodi's house, Jim was standing at the doorway, not interfering. Dean went straight to his friend, he had sent James to watch TV in Jim's house. "What's going on, Jim?! What do these guys want?! Where's Sam?! Jim, where's Sammy!?!"

Jim had no chance to speak before one of the officers turned, and addressed Dean abruptly, "You Dean Winchester? Samuel Winchester's brother?"

"Yeah, what's going on here?! Where's my brother?" Dean said demandingly, it was as if no time had passed since the days when he'd had frequent unpleasant encounters with law enforcement, and his attitude towards them had not changed, especially when they were accusing his brother of murder.

"We thought he might be here. How long since you last spoke to him?"

"He called last week," Dean shook his head sadly, a bitter laugh escaping his lips, "He was planning to propose, he wanted some advice, like I'd know. Is Jess really dead?"

"Found in their apartment five days ago, throat slashed so deep her spinal cord was visible."

Dean had seen horrible things, but he had never known the victim, Sam had loved Jessica, Dean liked Jessica, she was a great girl, and hearing of her gruesome death turned Dean's stomach. "Oh god."

The officer didn't back down though, he saw Dean as a guy who was covering for his brother, who'd just murdered his girlfriend, "Where's your brother?"

Just as Dean was about to reply, Jodi came into the house at a run, seeing the police car parked out front had her frightened, even more so when she couldn't see her son anywhere. Jodi went straight to Dean, and he pulled her into a hug, she was on the verge of tears, "Dean, what's going on?! Where's James?!"

Dean stroked Jodi's hair soothingly, as he reassured her, "James is fine, he's up at Jim's," Then for the bad news, "Sam's missing. Jess was murdered, they think Sam killed her. Jodi, they think Sam killed Jess," Jodi was one of the few people that Dean opened up to, and now she was there, Dean was rapidly breaking down.

* * *

Jim called a break at that point, insisting that the young couple be given a moment to compose themselves. All that achieved was Dean's distress being turned back to anger, and soon Jodi was trying to keep Dean from punching the officer. When it came to his family, Dean was prone to going off, and here was an officer claiming that his brother was a murderer.

* * *

After the police finally left, Jim and Dean went out to the verandah of the house, with a bottle of scotch, to attempt to figure out what their next move would be.

"What the hell are we going to do, Jim? Sam's wanted for murder, he's missing, he could be... he could be dead. What are we going to do?"

"Well whatever we are going to do, we can't do it alone," Jim said, this was something big, he could feel it in his bones. "You've met Bobby Singer, haven't you, he's a hunter, lives up in South Dakota?"

"Yeah, we've met, Dad used to go to him for research, they had a falling out. You think he could help us?"

"I've already done a couple of searches, there were demonic signs all over Palo Alto last week, none before, none since."

"A demon has Sam?!" Dean instantly panicked.

"Your father called me a while back. Dean, he reckons that it was a demon that killed your mother. It might be the same thing that killed Jess."

* * *

Four days earlier. Sam woke up to find himself lying on the cold hard dirt in the middle of nowhere, a long abandoned town. Sam attempted to remember how he had gotten there, but the last thing he remembered was making popcorn, while Jess was choosing a movie to watch, "Jess?" Sam was fearful, they had been away from the hunt for a long time now, but Sam could feel it in his blood, there was something unnatural behind this.

Sam pulled out his phone, and checked for reception, there was none. He could see no one else.

Sam searched the deserted town for any other signs of life, and for quite some time he had no luck, but then he heard a creaking sound from nearby, he picked up a plank of wood, ready to fight.

There would be no fight though, as the man who appeared was just that, a man, who posed little danger to Sam, or at least that was the feeling Sam had. Both parties jump back, startled.

The man was twenty three year old Andy Gallagher, a local of Guthrie, Oklahoma, and he had certain abilities, psychic abilities, he could put thoughts into people's heads, he could make them do things. He had Sam were a lot more alike than you would guess at first glance.

Just under a year ago, Sam had begun to have nightmares, vivid nightmares, and then those nightmares started coming true, he had been having them more and more, now even when he was awake, they were psychic visions.

**

* * *

**_**TBC...**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews! So sorry about the delay, again. Hope people are enjoying the twist!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Three hours after receiving Dean's phone call, Bobby arrived at Jim's house. Greetings aside they got straight to work, poring over every scrap of information that could possibly help them in their search for Sam.

There was nothing, in the whole country there was no sign of Sam, there was no demonic signs whatsoever, nothing that could help them.

But they kept going, for hours they just kept looking, for anything.

For Dean, it was hell on earth, knowing that Sam was missing, that there was no sign of him anywhere, the police constantly poking around in their affairs, convinced that Sam was in contact with his brother, his only surviving family, and it was only made harder by the fact that he couldn't just drop everything to focus on the search for his brother, as much as he wanted to. Dean had responsibilities, and he couldn't just forget them, even for a few days, he had a family to support, he still had to go to work eight hours every day to bring in the income they, alongside Jodi's income, depended on to live, he had committed himself to coaching James' soccer team, he would even spend every other weekend voluntarily running a youth group through Jim's church, even just the mundane chores like doing the grocery shopping, fixing the toilet which was forever blocking up, buying a new fridge when the old one gave out unexpectedly. Of course everyone tried to lighten his load, but there was only so much that could be done, life couldn't just be put on hold indefinitely, not anymore. For a large part, Dean had to entrust Jim and Bobby to do everything they could to find Sam, and do what he could, when he could.

* * *

Soon after they had met, Sam and Andy found several other 'children', all of which had some kind of psychic ability, scattered around the otherwise deserted town, and it wasn't too long after that, that the thing that had put them there, a demon with yellow eyes, revealed his plan to each of the 'children'. He came to them in their dreams, and for Sam, his encounter with the demon that had killed his mother, and destroyed his family; it was enlightening to say the least.

"Howdy, Sam," The demon said casually in greeting, slightly smugly at finally having the youngest Winchester up for easy pickings. It had been too easy to get to him, he'd taken out daddy Winchester earlier that year, that had felt good, to finally be rid of that most annoying tail, and as for Dean, well, like Sam he hadn't kept up his skills, even if he had been anywhere near Sam. It was frustrating to Azazel that Sam's hunting skills hadn't been fully developed, and they hadn't even been used in years, but he was convinced that it wouldn't be hard to train him up again.

"I'm dreaming."

"What do you say you and I take a little walk?"

* * *

Lily, one of the other 'children' had been found dead, hanging from a windmill, the group had found her just moments before, Ava had moved away, seemingly in shock, and Jake had gone to get Lily's body down, leaving Andy and Sam together, as they looked at Lily's body, hanging, Sam spoke, "You know how I said I've got a brother? Well, he, our dad, and me used to _hunt_ together, I could really use his help right now. I'd give my arm for a working phone."

Andy paused, before as though a light bulb had popped on, he said, "You know, you may not need one. I've never tried it long-distance before, but do you have anything of Dean's on you? Like, something he touched?"

Sam still had a photo of Dean, Jodi and James, which Dean had sent him recently, tucked away in his wallet, he pulled it out, and showing it to Andy, he asked, "Uh…I've got this photo. Would that work?"

"Yeah, that should do it."

* * *

Dean was in the front garden, kicking around the soccer ball with James, relieving the pent up frustration he was feeling, when out of the blue he was struck with an unbearable headache.

* * *

Jim, who had been helping Jodi in the kitchen, making dinner, had seen Dean suddenly grab his head, and fall to the ground, he and Jodi both dropped what they were doing, and rushed outside to Dean's aid.

* * *

Once outside, Jodi went to her son, who was standing near his father, crying, afraid, while Jim knelt beside Dean, "Dean? What's wrong?"

Dean was doubled over on the ground, as an image flashed into his mind for the briefest moment, the Cold Oak bell.

As Dean straightened back up, Jim asked him, "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Dean replied in confusion, what was going on? "A headache?"

"You never get headaches, and that looked a lot more than any old headache. What's going on?" Jim asked pointedly, honestly Dean looked like hell, and Jim was moments from rushing to the hospital.

"No. Must be the stress," Dean tried to lighten the atmosphere with a chuckle as he pondered; "I could have sworn I saw something."

"What do you mean? Like a vision?"

"What? No!"

"I'm just saying."

"Come on, I'm not some psychic..."

As quickly as it had come on before, the pain was back, this time Dean saw Sam's image pop into his mind.

"Dean? Dean! Are you with me?"

"Yeah, I think so. I saw Sam. I saw him, Jim."

"It _was _a vision," Jim concluded.

"Yeah. I don't know how, but yeah. Whew. That was about as fun as getting kicked in the jewels."

It took some doing, but several hours later, through painstaking research, they managed to figure out what Dean had seen to realise where Sam was, Cold Oak in South Dakota.

* * *

Some hours later, Dean pulled Bobby's beat up truck up on the edge of the dense woodlands that surrounded Cold Oak. Bobby and Jim exchanged a glance as they stepped out of the car; then as they gathered weapons from the trunk, Bobby commented, "Looks like the rest of the way's on foot."

"Let's go."

They wouldn't get there in time.

* * *

Back in Cold Oak, only Sam and another of the 'children', Jake, a soldier, who until a few days earlier had been in Afghanistan, remained, they were walking out of one of the dilapidated buildings, when Sam commented, "I think we can make it out of here now."

"But the Acheri demon…"

"No, no, no. Ava was summoning it, controlling it. It shouldn't come back now that she's dead. We've gotta go."

Jake had other plans though, "Not "we", Sam. Only one of us is getting out of here. I'm sorry."

"What?" Sam asked, perplexed.

"I had a vision. That Yellow-Eyed Demon or whatever it was, he talked to me. He told me how it was."

"No, Jake, listen. You can't listen to him."

"Sam, he's not letting us go. Only one. Now, if we don't play along, he'll kill us both. Now, I like you, man. I do. But do the math here. What good's it do for both of us to die? Now, I can get out of here. I get close to the demon, I can kill the bastard."

"You come with me, I can get someone who can help us, we can kill the demon together."

Jake was suspicious, "How do I know you won't turn on me?"

"I won't."

"I don't know that."

"Look, I just want to go home, back to my family," Sam said honestly, it was true, right now, all he wanted was to see Jess, hold her, and Dean, and his nephew, even his long absent father.

But Jake wasn't listening, and suddenly, with his ability, super strength, he punched Sam, sending him flying across an open field, and crashing to the ground.

Sam was shocked by the impact, his jaw was broken, and he was disorientated, Jake full advantage of his weakened state.

* * *

They brawled violently, until Sam finally delivered a knockout blow to Jake. Sam stumbled to his feet, if he had wanted to kill Jake, in that moment he could've, he could see an iron bar that Jake had been carrying, lying not far from where Jake had landed, but he wasn't going to kill someone, who was not threatening his life, or so he thought.

* * *

Some way down the road, Bobby and Dean were approaching, with Jim following close behind.

"Sam!" Dean called out in relief.

"Dean!"

But their relief was short lived. Dean saw it first, Sam had seen his brother approaching, and unthinkingly had turned his back on the man whom had attacked him only moments before, a fatal mistake, "Sam, look out!", Dean called out urgently, but there wasn't any time for Sam to react, the glisten of a knife was the only warning Dean had, he hadn't taken in the situation, until that moment, he had been solely focused on his brother to the extent that he hadn't even seen Jake, before Sam was attacked from behind, Jake had stabbed him in the back, literally and figuratively.

"Sam!" Dean cried out in horror as he watched his brother fall to his knees, "No!"

Bobby immediately went in pursuit of Jake, who was running from the scene at a dead sprint, whilst Dean and Jim rushed to Sam. Dean slid to the ground in front of his brother, grabbing the front of Sam's shirt, attempting to hold him upright, "Sam!"

Sam fell forward against Dean, there was blood seeping steadily out of the wound in his back, he was dying.

"Whoa, whoa, Sam. Sam! Hey! Come here. Let me look at you," Dean's worst fears were confirmed when he put his hand to Sam's back, and instantly felt blood, too much blood. "Hey, look at me. It's not even that bad. It's not even that bad, all right? Sammy? Sam! Hey, listen to me. We're gonna patch you up, okay? You're gonna be good as new. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna take you care of you. I've got you. That's my job, right? Watch out for my little bro? Sam? Sam! Sammy!"

Sam's eyes slid shut, and his body went completely limp against Dean's, Dean cried out in agony, tears were streaming down his face, he was vaguely aware of Jim, who was administering last rites, as he held Sam as he died. "SAM!"

Hunting had caught up with them, as much as they had tried to put it behind them, hunting had caught up with them.

* * *

**_TBC..._**

**_Please give me some reviews for this guys, let me know what you think!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter! I would love to get some more feedback on this fic, even just a couple of words, so please, read then click that little button and make my day.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Dean went into his own world after his brother's death, he wouldn't leave the house, he would spend all day sitting in the bedroom, either drunk or hung over, it got so bad that Jodi moved herself and James in with Jim.

Dean had heard of people making deals with demons, selling their souls, shit like that to get what they wanted, like for instance, a loved one back from the dead, but he had a family, a girlfriend and a son, who needed him, though in the months to come he would only hurt them, though he didn't mean to, he was just hurting so badly.

At least when he was drunk, sometimes Dean could pretend that Sam was still there with him.

* * *

As for the funeral, it wasn't an overly dramatic affair, there were easily hundreds of people crowded into Blue Earth's catholic church, Holy Trinity, friends of Sam's had come from everywhere to attend, students from Stanford, there had been some talk amongst students, as to whether to go or not, it really came down to if they really believed that Sam had killed Jessica, almost everyone Sam had known, even a few of the professors turned up, Bobby and several other people they knew through their former life, people from the community, including a number of now adults who Sam had gone to high school with in Blue Earth, even a couple of people Sam had worked with on a summer internship at a law office in Stanford.

Pastor Jim, dressed in his clerical attire, delivered a moving eulogy. Only after Sam's death, did they realise that John, the boys' father had been killed months earlier, and on top of that, Jim had been more of a father to Sam and Dean than John had ever really been, he was the obvious choice to eulogise Sam's life, aside from Dean, but he had been so devastated by Sam's violent, brutal murder, a murder that he had witnessed, he was barely fit to sit in the church alongside his wife and son, Jodi chose to ignore the strong smell of whisky on his breath.

* * *

James was a lot like his uncle, to Dean and Jodi's joy he was very smart and kind, as well as being athletic, and after Pastor Jim had given the eulogy, James went to the front of the church. With his mother's comforting arm around him, James read a poem he had written to commemorate Sam, tears rolling down his face as he spoke, there wasn't a dry eye in the place.

* * *

Jodi held things together for nearly a month after Sam's death, before she finally couldn't take Dean's behaviour anymore, she couldn't have their son around Dean if he wasn't going to get his act together.

Jodi was no delicate rose, and it wasn't albeit out of character for her when she snapped. Dean had been out on the back deck, on his third drink, though it was only eleven thirty in the morning, and Jodi heard a beer bottle smash against one of the post railings of the deck, followed by Dean swearing his head off, seemingly at someone, but there was no one there.

"...Why'd you have to fucking leave me Sam! You and me, we said we were going to damn well always be there for each other..." Jodi could hear what he was saying easily, but she only took a little in, it was always the same.

Jodi had been ignoring it for weeks, she had been letting it go, and giving Dean his space, she knew that Dean was grieving, she missed Sam too, but on this day she finally snapped, it had to stop.

Storming out to the deck, Jodi was glad that James was at his friend's house, she grabbed Dean's beer supply from beside him, and she hurled the bottles out onto the lawn, taking satisfaction in the mass of broken glass left on the ground.

Dean was drunk, and his reaction was slowed, but seeing his girlfriend throw all his booze away, made him snap. Before either of them could think, Dean slapped Jodi across the face, and she fell down the stairs, hard.

Jodi lay stunned on the ground, Dean was at the top of the stairs, looking down at her in horror, it had sobered him instantly, he couldn't believe that he had actually hit Jodi.

Jodi came to her senses first, for the first time since she had escaped from her father's violence that she was truly afraid for her safety, Dean had always been there for her, he protected her, but now, Dean was the one who'd hurt her, Dean was the one she was scared of. Her head was spinning, and she felt sick, yet Jodi, who remembered her days of being used as a punching bag too well, got to her feet, and ran as fast as she could away from Dean.

* * *

Jim had been sitting in his office at the front of the church, quietly working on anything but religion, preparing for a hunt, when he heard the doors to the church open, and Jodi call out for him, panic in her voice.

Jim pushed his chair back from his desk, and hurried out to see what had the young woman so upset. When Jim opened the office door, to discover Jodi standing, clinging onto one of the pews, struggling to catch her breath, blood running down her face, he was shocked, he couldn't begin to imagine what could have happened, he had seen her only two hours earlier, taking James to play at a friend's house. Jim quickly helped her to sit down on the floor, worried that otherwise she would fall down, and asked her, "Jodi? What on god's green earth happened to you?"

Jodi was shaking, her tears were mixing with the blood spilling from a laceration to her scalp. "Dean. Dean hit me, and I fell down the stairs."

"He what?" Jim was shocked, but maybe not as shocked as he would have been before Sam's death, he had seen Dean spiralling out of control. "Are you alright?"

"My head hurts, I think I hit it when I fell. He hit me, Jim, he hit me," Jodi was sobbing now.

"I think you need to go to the hospital, Jodi. Okay?"

"I've got to pick James up at four thirty."

"Don't worry, I'll get him. Can you walk out to the car?"

"He hit me, Jim, he hit me."

* * *

The doctor at the hospital cleared Jodi of suffering any serious injuries, just a few sutures and a mild concussion, it was the emotional stuff that had the doctor worried, Jim told him of Jodi's history of abuse, everything she had suffered at her father's hand, and then of what he knew about the incident.

The social worker had wanted Jodi to go to a shelter, Jodi was smart enough to deny that it was Dean who had hurt her, she loved him, and getting him charged with assault wouldn't help anything, she hoped that if she could just give him enough time, then he would get better, go back to being the loving partner and father she knew.

Between Jodi and Jim, they talked the social worker out of involving the police, though Jim thought that it could be the wakeup call that Dean desperately needed.

Jodi just hoped that she would be able to go back to him, she didn't know if she would ever feel safe again.

It would be nearly six months before Jodi and Dean would reunite.

* * *

After he lost his girlfriend and son, Dean almost lost his mind, and his life. His grief turned to rage, a burning desire for revenge against the demon that had caused his brother's death, and Jake, his brother's killer, in Dean's mind, Jake deserved to die more than anything they'd ever hunted, and he was going to kill him.

* * *

Dean disappeared one night, he went in search of his brother's murderer, he was going to hunt him down, but to his family, he disappeared, no warning, no note.

They thought he was dead.

* * *

James was just like any other nine year old, he loved sports and playing with his friends, his father's disappearance hit him hard, he became anxious, he would refuse to leave his mother, terrified that she too would disappear, he would wake up in the night, screaming. Jodi didn't tell him how she had gotten hurt that once, but in his heart he knew. Despite that, he still loved his dad, and wanted him to come home, to live with him and his mum again, for their family to go back to normal.

Jodi would have been happy just to know that Dean was safe.

* * *

Jake had thought that he had made it out of there scot free, Bobby hadn't been able to catch him, and he had gotten away, for a couple of days Jake let his life go back to normal, or as close as he could get to normal, then the demon appeared again, and persuaded him to do something for him.

It was an odd request, to take a gun, the only gun that could kill the demon, and use it as a key to open the door to a crypt in an old cemetery, the demon wouldn't say why.

Little did Jake know, he had opened the doors of hell.

Soon he would have bigger things, well seemingly bigger things on his mind, namely one Dean Winchester out to kill him.

* * *

Now, Jake has to be given some credit, he evaded Dean for just over two months after he had murdered Sam in cold blood, but as well as Jake hid, he didn't come close to having the same skills as Dean, though Dean was somewhat out of practice, being out of practice was the only reason that Dean took as long as he did to track him down.

Dean made him suffer for what he had done to Sam.

* * *

_**TBC...**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Supernatural or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.**_

_**Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter! I would love to get some more feedback on this fic, even just a couple of words, so please, read then click that little button and make my day.**_

_**Enjoy the last chapter!**_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Jake was dead, Dean had avenged his brother's death, but it wasn't over for him, it couldn't be over until the demon too was dead, not just back in hell, dead. As he was being brutally tortured by Dean, Jake, seeking mercy, told Dean of the Colt's power, and that it was in fact the only way to kill the demon, it didn't save him, but that knowledge would be of great benefit to Dean as he continued his quest for revenge.

* * *

Dean would stop at nothing to find the demon, and after a number of months, Dean found him, or rather the demon found him. Dean had been squatting in an abandoned house just outside of Detroit, he had been woken abruptly when the demon smashed the door, by way of making an entrance. "Daddy's home," The demon said with a laugh.

"It's you," Dean said, knowing.

There was no great fight, Dean grabbed for the Colt, he got off two rounds straight into the demon's heart, but not before the demon had given him a parting gift, shards from a long ago broken window, sent hurtling into Dean's chest.

* * *

The body of Azazel's host lay dead just metres from Dean, who was slowly bleeding to death, his chest had been ripped open, he was in unimaginable pain. He thought that was going to die there, alone and hurt, he would never have the chance to see his girlfriend and son again, he would never have the chance to apologise for hurting them as he had.

When Castiel appeared, that was the moment that Dean was sure that he was dead, there was after all an angel of the lord standing before him.

"You have done us a great service, Dean Winchester, we have seen you, and we_ are_ grateful."

"I'm dead."

"You were," and with that the angel disappeared.

Dean lay there for a moment, stunned as the pain melted gently away, he sat up slowly, gingerly, expecting that at any moment he would be overcome by pain once again, but the pain never came. His clothes and the ground under him were blood-soaked, his blood was seeping into the ground, yet he wasn't hurt, not anymore, as he discovered when he pulled off his ruined shirt, to see that his muscular chest, which just minutes before had looked as though he had been mauled by a rabid dog, now was marred by red, fresh, healing scars.

* * *

Dean didn't know much of what to do after his showdown with the demon that had torn his family apart so many years ago, so he went to visit one of his family's oldest friends, and a skilled hunter, how Dean knew would want to know of the demon's demise, Bobby.

Dean told his story over a couple of beers, and not surprisingly when he was done, Bobby tried to convince him to help out with the epic task of cleaning up the mess made by the demon, but Dean wanted no part in it.

"This is a can of worms, Dean, and yellow eyes popped it wide open. You can't just say you're out, this is big, end of the world big, and I need your help on this, boy."

"This is Dad's fight, not mine, I have my revenge, and I just want to go home."

"Dean, you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"John's dead, Dean, the demon killed him back in February. I only found out a few months back, I thought you boys would have known. I'm sorry Dean, 'bout your daddy, but this is huge, and we need all hands on if this world has a chance."

"I can't Bobby. I'm not a hunter, not anymore, I'm going home," That would be the last words the pair every shared.

* * *

After leaving Detroit, Dean went straight back to Blue Earth, to his family, but when he got there, he was paralysed by fear, he had been so drunk that he only had vague memories of hitting Jodi, but he knew he had, and he knew that it was unforgivable, but it was his family, and even if it took the rest of his life, Dean was going to make it up to Jodi.

But there were obstacles in Dean's way, the main one once Dean had brought himself to get out of the car was namely Jim Murphy. Dean had caught sight of Jodi entering the preacher's residence as he was pulling up, and when Dean finally went to the door, Jim's reaction was overprotective to say the least.

Jim barely gave Dean a chance, as he was closing the door, Dean jammed his foot in the way of the door, and made one last plea, "Wait Jim, please, look, I know I screwed up, I really screwed up, but I just want to go back to my life, to Jodi and James. I know she's here, please man, let me talk to her, give me a chance to make it right. They're my world, please."

"You ever hurt her again..." Jim warned seriously as he slowly allowed the door to swing open, the implication was clear to Dean as he stepped over the threshold.

"I won't. "

* * *

Dean wasn't too proud to admit that when he first laid eyes on Jodi, his jaw dropped, if it was possible she was even more beautiful than he remembered, her dark brunette hair fell in layers that framed her face, she was tired, but you won't know it to look at her, but what truly caught Dean's eye was, "You're pregnant." It was true, she well and truly was, her belly was massive, bigger than when she was pregnant with James, and to Dean it was beautiful. "Oh wow, Jodes."

"Dean," Jodi murmured softly as she got to her feet, feeling the emotion in the room, Jim slipped away quietly to give the estranged couple their space.

They stood there in silence for some time as Jodi tried to process her shock, she had truly believed that he must have died, but now here he stood before her, when Jodi finally broke out of her stunned silence, she leapt forward, well as much as she could, and embraced Dean. They held each other as though they were drowning and the other was their life vest, and in a way, they had been and they were.

"God it's good to see you, Jodes. I've missed you, so much. I'm so sorry."

"Oh so have I, Dean, so have I," Jodi broke away from Dean, and said what she just knew she had to, "Never do that again, never disappear on us, James has missed you, I've missed you, god, I thought I'd be raising three kids alone."

"Three?"

Jodi placed a hand to her stomach tenderly as she told Dean, "It's twins, Dean."

"How far along are you? Seven months?"

"Eight, next week," Jodi said, before glancing at the wall clock, and upon realising the time, she told Dean, "Look, I've got to go pick up James from school, we can talk more when I get back."

"Are you going to tell him, you know, that I'm back?"

"I guess I will, he's missed you so much, Dean."

"Could I come with you, to pick him up? If you don't want to, that's fine too, but, I really want to see my boy."

Jodi nodded her head tightly, her lips pursed, she just hoped that she was making the right decision to let Dean back into their lives. "Okay, but first Dean, swear to me, promise me that you won't drink again."

* * *

James' class was the first to be let out of the school that afternoon, and his parents were standing right at the front of the crowd of parents, waiting for him. When James saw his dad, standing there beside his mum, words cannot describe the feeling that overcame the young boy, his bag and jumper fell from his hands, and he broke into a sprint to reach his parents, Dean scooped James into his arms, and they embraced right there, in the middle of the school playground, neither one ever wanting to let go.

* * *

The young family went straight home, to their home, and for hours they just lived in oblivion to the rest of the world, just spending time together, while Dean had been gone, Jim had put up a basketball hoop in the backyard of their house, for James, it had been a Christmas present from Dean and Jodi, and James practically pulled Dean outside to check it out, all too willing, Dean played basketball with his son for some time before they collapsed tiredly together on the grass.

"Are you staying, Dad?" James asked in a tone that was just a bit solemn for Dean's liking.

"That's something that your mum and me need to talk about."

"But you want to, don't you?"

"Of course I do, James, you guys are everything to me."

"You missed my birthday."

"I know, kiddo, I'm sorry."

"I've got soccer finals next weekend, Dad, can you come, please?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

* * *

That night, long after James had gone to bed, Dean and Jodi were still up, just talking, trying to sort everything out.

"I just need some time to think, Dean, please can you go, just while I figure things out."

"Whatever you need, but Jodi, first I was thinking that, maybe we... Forget it..."

"No, say it, whatever you want to say."

"We should get married. I know I don't deserve you, after everything... But I really love you, Jodi, and we have a family together. So, how about it, will you marry me?" Dean surprised even himself, he never imagined that he would get married, but this was the mother of his children, and he had planned this out so carefully, he had to say it, or he would have backed out, he'd even bought the ring.

Jodi was shocked, but happy. Lightly, she told Dean, "Do it right, please Dean."

Dean mock grumbled as he went down onto one knee, and pulled a ring box from his jacket pocket, then holding the open ring box out to his long-time girlfriend, Dean asked the big question, "We were kids when we met, and maybe if it hadn't of been for James, maybe I never would have had the chance to realise that I loved you, but we were given this baby boy, and now there's going to be the twins too. I couldn't imagine my life without you Jodes, really, I need you. Jodi Catherine Matthews will you marry me?"

A wide smile broke across Jodi's face, as she took the stunning engagement ring out of its box and slipped it onto her finger, before joyously embracing Dean.

"I had to say it, so you have to say it."

"Fine, yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course I'll marry you."

* * *

Dean still left that night, he stayed in a motel a few blocks away, giving Jodi her space. But Jodi didn't need much time to know that this was right, that she and Dean belonged together, and the very next day, Dean moved back in with his family, and they started on the long road to get things back to how they had been, not knowing that they had only days left together before they would again be struck by tragedy.

* * *

True to his word, Dean was at James' soccer final the following weekend, and as he stood there, watching James playing in his soccer final, winning, his arm around Jodi's waist, his hand resting gently on her beautiful rounded, pregnant stomach, Dean caught sight of an ethereal figure standing on the opposite side of the field, Sam. It was all Dean could do not to run across the field, for a moment he truly believed that it was his brother, alive, but... Dean knew it couldn't be, he had buried his brother months ago, Sam was dead... that meant, Dean realised that what he was seeing was a spirit.  
'Sam' just looked over at Dean and his wife to be, and he gave Dean a brief, but deeply meaningful look, the kind that said more than words ever could, before looking away, over to James just as the young boy scored the final goal of the match, winning the game for his team, and bringing overwhelming pride to his parents, and his uncle.

Dean and Jodi exchanged a brief, loving kiss, as their son celebrated with his teammates. A gunshot then rang through the air.

"DEAN!"

* * *

**_The End_**

**_If anyone would like to see a sequel, let me know, and if I get enough requests for one, it'll happen._**

**_Thanks for reading!_**


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